Blimey! Is it really 20 whole years since the Fun Lovin’ Criminals launched their debut album Come Find Yourself on to an unsuspecting public?

It certainly is, and a tour from the Brit-based New Yorkers was the perfect way to celebrate this genre-defying long player.

Multi-instrumentalist Brian ‘Fast’ Leiser promised Oxford a party, and he and bandmates Huey Morgan and Frank Benbini certainly delivered in a set full of tight tunes, stories and plenty of banter.

From the first beat of what’s become their theme tune The Fun Lovin’ Criminal (“Stick ‘em up punk”), the emphasis was on the fun and not the criminality on this loud and raucous trip down memory lane.

How can you define their sound? Well, you can’t. A mix of hip hop, funk, blues, alternative rock, soul, gangsta rap and jazz rap is what it says on the Internet, but that doesn’t tell you half the story.

A packed O2 Academy got to hear them play Come Find Yourself live from start to finish, but littered with tales from the Big Apple about its recording and the early years of the band... and how time has taken its toll.

“We used to watch Spinal Tap and think it was funny,” said Huey.

“But that s*** ain’t funny no more,” deadpanned Fast.

Scooby Snacks gets everyone rocking, while We Have all the Time in the World slows things down and gives Huey the chance to tell a Louis Armstrong anecdote.

Korean Bodega, Big Night Out, Loco (AKA their beer advert song, for the benefit of one completely wasted fan) and that ode to the songs of Barry White – Love Unlimited – got an outing during the encore to send us back on our way to the Mean Streets of the Cowley Road with the Kings of New York still ringing in our ears.

MARC EVANS
4/5